Grumpy Old Buckeye: Nitpicking Ohio State’s 28-14 win over Texas
Some of the moments that gave me Cotton Bowl mouth while the Buckeyes battled the Longhorns.
Ohio State went deep when it came to ripping out the hearts of Texas Friday night with a hard-fought 28-14 win over the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. While the Buckeyes hurt themselves at times, it would be wrong not to give Texas credit for a good game plan, especially against Jeremiah Smith, but ultimately Ohio State did enough to get past the Longhorns and into the national championship game against Notre Dame.
Here are the things that gave me a Texas-sized ulcer during the Cotton Bowl.
Sloopy Hang On!
After a good defensive stand to start the game, Ohio State took over on offense and drove down the field. Will Howard delivered a strike to a wide-open Carnell Tate at the goal line for an easy touchdown. The problem was that Tate dropped the ball.
These things happen sometimes, and Quinshon Judkins picked up his teammate with a touchdown run on the next play anyway, but that could have been a costly early mistake.
Be Smart
It was uncharacteristic of TreVeyon Henderson to take the bait of whatever verbal extracurriculars the Longhorns were throwing at him, but the running back’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty derailed the second OSU drive — a promising one that had started at the OSU 8-yard line.
Henderson, who had just brilliantly executed a 22-yard run to get into plus territory, was stuffed after a short gain and took exception to something, smacking defensive lineman Alex January upside the head, costing the Buckeyes 15 yards, and moving the ball from the Texas 37-yard line back into OSU territory.
The drive stalled as a result, prevented the Buckeyes from jumping on the Longhorns as they had pounced early on Tennessee and Oregon. Henderson atoned for it later in the game, but it always felt like putting Texas behind and making the Longhorn offense one dimensional could have made the proceedings a bit easier.
.
.
.
continued
